Improvement in casting ingots in groups



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED. J. SLADE, OF TRENTON, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN CASTING INGOTS IN GRUPS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 101,389, dated March 29, 1870.

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, FEED. J. SLADE, of the city of Trenton, in the county of Mercer and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful improvements in the method of casting ingots of steel or other metals, when these are cast in groups, or the metal is introduced at the bottom of mold; and that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the-drawings accompanying this specification.

In casting in gots in groups, the metal is run into a single ingot-mold, and allowed to ow from the bottom of this into a number of others connected with it by passages formed in a mold or fiask placed underneath the ingot-molds. These passages are sometimes made in sand, or other suitable molding material rammed into the flask, but sometimes they are formed directly in the casting without the use ot' sand, whereby the labor of molding is saved, and the metal is rendered less liable to chill while being poured, or to be mixed with pieces of sand which may become detached from the flask.

When iron asks are used, however, with ont sand, they are liable to be cut away and destroyed by the liquid metal. The corners of the flask, between the passages for the flow of the metal, after several casts are so cut away that diculty is experienced in removing the center ingot from the flask.

To obviate diiculty from this source I make these corners d d, Figures I and II, separate from the flask, so that they may be removed with the ingot, and when too much cut may be renewed, thus materially extending the endurance of the flask. These loose pieces may be made either of iron or,if preferred,of brick or other convenient material.

The Stoppers, which are placed in the molds into which the metal runs from the bottom, to determine the exact length of the ingot, are sometimes simply blocks of cast-iron arranged to be held at any desired height in the mold. When such Stoppers are used, however, it is impossible to obtain sound ingots, for the metal, when it reaches the stopper, runs into the narrow space between the stopper and the mold, and forms a 1in, which, when the stopper becomes expanded by the heat of the metal, is held so firmly that the ingot, when contracting in cooling, is torn asunder and rendered :fit onlyr to be remclted.

I obviate this serious difficulty by using a stopper formed in pieces, as shown by Fig. III, and accompanying details.

The lower part of the stopper is made of pieces t t, whose edges are inclined in such a way that when expanding they can slip one on the other, and thus are incapable ot' binding the n of metal which surrounds them. These blocks are secured to the upper part of the stopper S by a piece of sheet-iron, u, whose corners when in place are bent down over the plate s. Instead of the blocks with inclined edges, blocks t t with square edges may be used, having a space left between theminto which a slip of wood or other yielding substance is introduced, which, by burning out, or being compressed, will allow the blocks to come together when heated. I prefer, however, the blocks with inclined edges, as being simpler and more certain in their action. Instead of the blocks t t or t t', a layer of sand may be placed between the sheet-iron u and the plate s, which would also accomplish the object in view.

To hold the Stoppers in position I use the arrangement also shown in Fig. III, where a cross-bar, f, having a hole, say one inch in diameter, is placed across the top of the mold m, through staples hcastin the mold. In the top plate s of the stopper is cast a rod, r, of wrought-iron, of a smaller diameter, which passes through the hole in the cross-bar when the stopper is in position, and is held rmly by a wedge, w, driven into the space around the rod. By this means the stopper is readily adjusted to any desired length of ingot, and inserted or removed with great facility', while the mold may be conveniently handled by hooks catching under the cross-bar f.

Having thus described the nature .of my improvements, I claim as my invention- The corner-pieces d d, constructed and arranged as described.

2. The compressible stopper or piston, consisting of plate s, the parts t t or t t', and envelope u, constructed and arranged substantially as described.

FRED. J.V SLADE.

Witnesses:

W. C. TAYLOR, R. P. WrLsoN. 

